1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for digitally registering and processing observation charts, especially in the medical field.
2. Background of the Invention
Observation charts are conventionally paper or cardboard sheets used for monitoring the health of a patient. A single sheet or form may contains several charts monitoring different parameters such as temperature, pulse, blood pressure, respiration, drug administration, etc. Most of these charts are time scaled. Observation charts are important sources of information for the successive nurses and doctors taking in charge a same patient during his stay in a hospital.
Usually, the observation charts are preprinted forms with blank charts forming a squaring, each line or gap between two lines in one direction (usually the vertical one defining columns) corresponding to a determined time or a determined time period. Lines of different thickness may outline the scale of the time. The scale of the other axis of each chart corresponds to the monitored parameter (degrees, number, etc.). Sometimes, this parameter scale is not preprinted and is to be completed by the medical staff. Further, some charts may contain a single row when the required information only corresponds to the time of an action (for example, drug administration, visit of the doctor, etc.). The forms also contain boxes or analog to be filled with other information, such as the identity of the patient, the identity of the medical staff, etc.
Conventionally, the observation forms are filled in manually by the doctors or nurses. For the time scaled charts, a dot or cross is written at the location corresponding to the time (at the intersection between a printed time and parameter level for the charts having scale in both axes). For scaled parameters like the temperature, a link line may joint the successive dots.
Recently, computerized systems have been proposed to be substituted for conventional observation forms. Such systems have the advantage of allowing a digital storage and processing of the data. However, these systems require a keyboard, a sensitive screen or the like as input device, and a display screen for displaying the information to the medical staff.
A problem resides in the fact that the observation forms have to be attached to the beds of the patients or in close proximity to the beds to be consultable at any time by the medical staff. Such a requirement renders the conventional computerized systems inapplicable as it is unrealistic, among others for cost purposes, to propose a system in which each bed of a hospital is provided with a screen or the like.
Another problem with computerized systems is that it usually complicates registering information. In particular, the observation forms are to be updated periodically and during a relative long period of time (one week or more). Hence, it is not desirable to multiply the number of additional steps with respect to handwriting.